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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28184370">As Good a Home as Any is the Familiar Weight of a Sword in Hand</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye'>FireEye</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy VI</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:20:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>603</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28184370</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Celes, Cyan, rebuilding, and belonging.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Celes Chere &amp; Cyan Garamonde</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Yuletide Madness 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>As Good a Home as Any is the Familiar Weight of a Sword in Hand</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phlyarologist/gifts">Phlyarologist</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<em>They</em> need a king.  <em>You</em> need a retainer.  <em>I</em> need a place in this world.”</p><p>Cyan stared.</p><p>His expression inscrutable.</p><p>An ominous peal of thunder rumbled through the empty halls of Doma surrounding them.  Celes shrugged the waterlogged backpack that rested by one strap over her shoulder.  He’d left her out in the rain for three days, and she was still halfway to soaked through.</p><p>She’d <em>thought</em> they were on better terms than that, but apparently she’d been mistaken.</p><p>“How is that complicated?” Celes demanded to know, when he didn’t proffer up an answer.</p><p>Cyan sighed deeply.</p><p>“Dost thou truly believe the people of Doma wouldth accept thee as my vassal?”</p><p>“After everything else, why wouldn’t they?”</p><p>“Thou’rt still an Imperial.”</p><p>“I <em>was</em> an Imperial,” Celes corrected.  “And even then, I had <em>nothing to do</em> with what happened here.”</p><p>Cyan crossed his arms, studying her.</p><p>But he was dragging her off course again.  Almost as though to hit her from the wrong side, and seeing if she would stumble.</p><p>It wasn’t an unfamiliar technique.</p><p>Merely an unexpected one.</p><p>“I have led an army.  I know what it takes.  You and I both saved the entire world, and we did it <em>together</em>.”  ...what was left of it, at least.  “The world is at peace; what even is there left to defend against?”</p><p>“There will always be another threat,” Cyan reminded.  “And another after that.  Thou ought to know that, or art thou not a soldier after all?”</p><p>“There won’t be another Kefka.”</p><p>“Mayhap if not within <em>our</em> lifetimes.”</p><p>It was a sobering thought.</p><p>History was a long and winding path, cutting back across itself over and again.</p><p>Who was to say what would have been in a thousand years?</p><p>Still, Celes couldn’t find it in her to believe that what was left of mankind would be in a rush to repeat such a dark and dreary history so soon.  Nor did they have the sheer power with which to do so.</p><p>Thunder rumbled again.  Grey curtains of rain poured down the windows.</p><p>“If you weren’t at least considering it,” Celes pointed out, “You would throw me back out into the storm.”</p><p>For the first time since she’d arrived, the corner of Cyan’s mouth twitched in muted amusement.  His arms dropped to his sides, and his long gait took him several paces past her and back before he faced her again.</p><p>“Thou knowest thou would have an entire culture to learn?  A language.  History.  <em>Manners</em>.”</p><p>Celes bit back a smile.  She wanted to argue that her manners ought to have been impeccable, but that would have been dragging them off course yet once more.</p><p>“I have all the time in the world,” she answered instead.</p><p>“And even if thou dost learn, not everyone will accepteth thee.”</p><p>“Not everyone would anywhere else.”</p><p>Cyan came to stand directly before her.</p><p>She raised her chin defiantly, meeting his eyes.</p><p>“Is this what thou dost <em>want</em>?”</p><p>Her breath caught in her throat.</p><p>“What I want,” she told him in no uncertain terms, laying herself bare, “is to belong somewhere.”</p><p>He regarded her coolly.</p><p>Then nodded curtly.</p><p>“There be an abundance of vacant chambers,” he told her.  “Help thyself to whichever taketh thy fancy.  We’ll speak again in the morning.”</p><p>Celes heaved a deep, unsteady breath as a feeling of relief washed over her.  Her backpack felt remarkably heavy.</p><p>Sleep seemed a marvelous idea.</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>Inexplicably, it was those two words alone that took him off guard.  Cyan blinked at her, and it seemed every conflicting emotion within him played itself across his face before he answered.</p><p>“Thou’rt welcome.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>...I don't know why my immediate thought went to Cyan, but here you are.  XD</p><p>(I also wanted to work Sabin into the background there, but it was not to be.  I'm sure he's wandering around 'off screen', though.  Cyan can collect all the stray friends under his wing.)</p><p><strike>Also I apologize for any errors in Cyan's dialogue, my Renn Faire English ought to be better than it is but grumble grumble.</strike>.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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